Part 48
Kyle trudged through the snow, squinting to avoid the worst of the snow being blown in his face as the wind kicked up from time to time. His thoughts were centered on the girls and what he was feeling about everything that had happened in the past 24 hours. It was easy to picture Isabel as she had gone off about Tess being solely responsible for Alex's death. Listening to Liz recounting what had happened, going over it, and finally realizing that had she never pushed Max at Tess they might never have lost Alex had pushed her to snap at everyone. Emotionally he didn't think she had ever really let go of him, hadn't really allowed herself to move on. If she had he was pretty sure she wouldn't be conversing with his ghost.
He tripped over a snow-covered log and cursed under his breath when he nearly plowed into the snow face-first. The sacks of laundry he was carrying flipped over his shoulder and provided him with a soft landing. He scrambled up and glanced around, brushing the snow from his clothes and clearing his throat as he hefted the bags up again. His mind went back to the girls, going to Maria this time. It had been pretty obvious that she'd had a rough night with Michael. Which made sense, he mused. El Capitan had been pissed when he discovered she had known about that whole Future Max situation and she hadn't told him about it. The two of them seemed pretty solid, but something was still off about them. Well, they'd had their ups and downs over the past couple of years and with everything that was coming out they probably had their own issues that were coming to the surface.
It was an easy transition for his thoughts to shift to Liz. She had insisted that she was alright but there was no doubt her assurances were for her husband's benefit. She was devastated by the thought that the sacrifice she had made had been for nothing. That in the end they had all paid a price they hadn't been ready for and that loss had been the result of a lie.
And what about you? The thumping at the back of his skull started up in response to his thoughts and he tried to shake it off as he hefted his load higher on his shoulder. He hated the feelings that had rushed over him as he struggled to remember another time when he had probably been mind warped. Tess and his feelings regarding her were all a tangled mess that still had the ability to knot his stomach. Unwanted sensations threatened to suffocate him and he ruthlessly pushed those emotions back down. It was sort of like sticking your hand into a tackle box full of fish hooks. The more he allowed himself to think about her the more he bled.
His thoughts went back to Isabel. She had lost every guy she had ever cared for. She had lost Jesse, but that was a pain that would heal in time. He would become a pleasant memory, one probably wrapped up with a few regrets. Regret for involving him, regret for turning his life upside down, and regret for the pain he had suffered. Most of all she had lost Alex. What had happened to him was unthinkable.
He sighed as the Honeymoon cabin finally came into view. He was done going back over all of this. Like Michael had said, it served no purpose. Isabel's voice rose in his head.
"She took too much from us and I'm not gonna let her take another minute of my time."
He could remember the feel of her hand in his as he had tried to calm her with a touch. There were so many losses she had faced and he knew the past 24 hours was really bringing the memories to the surface. She also had to contend with the loss of her parents, and until they could manage to find a way to bridge the necessary gap between them she would hurt over that loss. There hadn't been time for her parents to become accustomed to who she was once they knew the truth, time to say goodbye, or time to make sure they would be safe.
He inhaled deeply in an effort to redirect his thoughts. He had his own mission here. He had three girls who were in serious need of a mood lift. He snorted to himself. "Buddha, Kyle needs a hand. We all need a break from the doom and gloom," he muttered. He reached the door to the cabin just as the wind gusted, strong enough to give him and the laundry a good shove. He turned the knob and pushed the door open, thankful that the girls had left it unlocked for him. That would give Michael fits, but it could be their little secret, he thought with a mental grin.
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The naked frame of the lean-to stood strong against the gusting wind and whorls of snow whipped up and danced around it. The snow underfoot had a crisp layer that crunched underfoot with every step, providing an accompanying backdrop of sound as they walked up the driveway to Mr. Tony's house. The air was cold, but the wind had a sharp bite to it that seemed to cut through the many layers of clothing the silent duo wore.
Michael was freezing in spite of thermals, one of Edward's old hunting sweatshirts, and all the heavy winter gear he was wearing on top of that. He adjusted his hood and scarf in an attempt to block out the wind that was increasing in both frequency and intensity. He was certain the stupid scarf was gathering the moisture from every breath he took and the bitter wind was causing it to freeze. Yeah, and why didn't we just go to Mexico? Right now that was looking like a much better locale for being on the run. Well, as far as the weather went, he decided.
He glanced over at Max. The fact that he seemed to be unaffected by the cold spoke to his state of mind. He was dressed much the same only he wasn't wearing a hood or the scarf with the patch of ice over his mouth. He reached up to tug on the scarf at that thought, wondering if it would stick to his face. Max had been given a knitted hat that sort of reminded him of those stupid sock monkeys he'd seen in some of the roadside stores they'd stopped in from time to time. If it weren't for the fact that the last 24 hours had just about beat the crap out of all of them he probably would've laughed.
Another glance at Max and he saw the dark circles under his eyes. Set against his skin that was pale and stretched taut over his cheekbones gave them a sunken, hollow look. Max's misery was palpable and he knew how hard it had been for his friend to leave Liz. Leaving her side had been even harder than leaving her in Kyle's care. He knew what it had taken for him to grant her request and somehow, in some way he wasn't sure he understood at the moment, it was her way of taking care of Max.
Max's melancholic mood only served to intensify the feelings he had being separated from Maria right now. She had held it together as she consoled Liz and he knew she was suffering as that old wound was torn open again. It hadn't been long enough for it to scar, to build up a resistance to the pain the reminders could bring. Some memories were good but even those could and would flush the loss right back to the surface.
She put on a brave front and she tried to hide it from him but he knew it was there. He could feel it deep inside and he ached to take her in his arms and hold her. Alex's death had been hard on all of them and the events right after had made it doubly difficult. He knew Liz's actions had been warranted and if she hadn't pushed ahead with her investigation and risked everything for it there was a good chance they wouldn't be alive right now. Having to face the questions that had arisen from Liz's revelation the night before had not only ripped open old wounds, it had made all of them question themselves, blame themselves, as they tried to figure out what they could have done differently. What they could have done to prevent something that might or might not have happened.
Did it even matter now? Whether Future Max was the result of a mindwarp or if he really existed and he had paid her a visit, it didn't make a difference. What was done was done. They couldn't do anything to change the past and he couldn't see how it mattered to their future one way or the other. He glanced up, his eyes stinging when the wind whipped crystallized snow into his face.
Up ahead the barn door creaked as Edward emerged with his boys. Brian looked less than pleased at having his 'work' with Stefanie interrupted. The teenager's body language spoke volumes and he snorted under his breath. They had to be careful around Edward. And Julia too, he reminded himself. The woman didn't pry and she didn't act suspicious of them but he knew she was far from being blind or stupid. She just wasn't as overt as her husband when it came to trying to figure out why they were there. There was no way she had bought their cover story anymore than Edward had.
He gave his thoughts a nudge, pushing them back into the corner of his mind to be dealt with later. They were supposed to finish constructing the lean-to and there were a few other chores on the list to complete before temperature dropped below zero with a little help from the arctic wind Edward had said they were expecting later in the afternoon. He had no intention of being outdoors with temperatures like that. He already hated this weather and it was supposed to get worse? No way was he going to be outside for that.
He sighed as they reached the framed structure and he stared balefully at the supplies Edward had already dropped off. Hammer, bag of nails, and a lot of wood. He leaned over to pick up the bag of nails and then wrapped one gloved hand around the wooden handle of the hammer. He shook the bag in front of Max's face, the sound of the nails knocking against each other just noisy enough to disrupt his friend's thoughts.
"What?"
"You look like hell, Maxwell." He motioned to the frame with his hammer. "Let's get this knocked out so we can get indoors before body parts start freezin' and fallin' off out here."
Max took the bag of nails and stared into the depths of the little bag for several long seconds before dumping a bunch of them in his left hand. He watched Michael as he grabbed one of the boards and placed it against the frame. He had no idea if it was in the right place or not but he couldn't really say he cared. He held his hand out when Michael turned to him and he shrugged when the other guy stared at the pile of nails for a while before holding up his gloved hand.
"Just one at a time," Michael growled. He shook his head when Max used his other gloved hand to push the nails around in an effort to separate one from the bunch. "Two words," he muttered under his breath. "Nail gun."
"What's that?" Max yelled when the wind picked up again. His lips lifted at the corners, a ghost of a smile when Michael did his best to flip him off in spite of the thick work gloves he was wearing. He looked around to make sure there was no way the others could see what he was doing and once he was certain they couldn't be seen he pinned his right hand under his other arm and pulled his hand free of the glove. He quickly grabbed the nails, pressing them into the wood where Michael pointed out and giving them just enough of a nudge to get them seated so he wouldn't have to hold them while hammering.
Michael nodded in thanks and motioned for Max to hold up one end of the board while he set about driving the nails through the boards and into the frame.
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Kyle hauled the last of the laundry in and then used the bottom of his boot to push the door shut. He slumped back against it and exhaled loudly. "Ladies, I've gotta tell you… hauling dirty laundry in from the other cabins isn't exactly what I had anticipated doing when I got out of working with the guys."
"You're not out in that cold wind, are you?" Maria asked as she looked up from sorting clothes into two piles.
He snorted. "Well, not now. But for the past 45 minutes I've been hauling dirty clothes across the frozen tundra so I'm not sure that hanging out with the three of you qualifies as restful."
She made a face at him. "Does your head still hurt?"
"No, but I really don't think that's the point." It was mostly true, he mused. The headache was still there but it had dulled and disappeared into the background.
The sound of a buzzer going off drew his gaze away from them and before he could comment Maria was up like a shot. He dropped the pillowcase full of laundry on the floor and started pulling his gear off to hang it up. He was working his boots off when he overheard his name and then muffled laughter. That was worth investigating, he decided and grabbed the overstuffed pillowcase, hooking it over his shoulder as he went in search of the girls.
"Here comes Santa Claus, here comes Santa Claus, right down honeymoon lane," he sang under his breath. He shook his head and chuckled to himself as he padded through the cabin and into the bathroom. He paused in the doorway and his mouth nearly dropped open as he looked around the spacious interior. A bathtub with a separate shower, a large hot water tank, and lo and behold, what to his wandering eye should appear? Yes, Kyle, that is indeed a stackable washer and dryer.
He glanced at Liz, watching her for a moment as she pulled jeans out of the dryer, shaking them out and hanging them over the dryer door. He could see that her mind was still otherwise occupied as she finished emptying out the machine.
"Oh, my turn!" Maria squeezed past him to take over the washer that was now available.
He watched her toss clothes in the washer, sorted by color. That would be enough to make Isabel cringe, he decided. He knew her well enough to know she would be sorting by fabric, color, temperature, and load size. It was no wonder no one enjoyed spending laundry time with her. The room felt small in spite of its size and he knew that could be attributed to the tension that was still hanging over them as a group. "Hey, if you guys need any help unmentionables, I'm your guy," offered just as Maria reached for the knob on the washer to start the cycle.
She shot a droll stare over her shoulder. "If you're that excited about getting your hands on someone's underwear I'm sure Michael's boxers – "
"No! Do not go any farther with that statement!" He shuddered comically and turned to head back to the living room.
"Kyle."
He turned when Liz spoke up, his name coming out on a heavy sigh. She was barely looking at him but he recognized the expression on her face. Her mouth was tight, her features set, and dark circles underlined eyes that told him whatever she had on her mind was serious. He wanted to put his hand on her shoulder, offer a bit of comfort, but changed his mind. After what had happened the night before he decided maybe distance was the better option.
"This's serious," she said, her tone somber.
He rubbed his open palm over his jean-clad thigh and then shoved it in his pocket as he leveled his voice to quietly agree with her. "Yeah, I know how serious it is, but if I don't lighten the mood I'm gonna lose it."
"C'mon, you guys," Maria said as she moved closer to them.
"I keep going over it." Liz started to pace in the confined space. "What Future Max said to me and the time he spent with me. I keep trying to make sense out of what he said. At the time I remember thinking I should tell Max regardless of what his future self said but… but he was Max and he said…" she sighed and shook her head.
Maria intercepted her friend, stopping the restless pacing and pulling her into her arms. She was in the process of putting a response together but before she could speak Kyle stepped forward.
"Look, Liz, you've gotta give yourself some slack here. You were confronted with an impossible situation that was…" he searched for an appropriate word, "the mother of all situations. And let's not forget you were 17 years old. I think it's too damn easy for all of us to lose sight of the fact that we're still teenagers dealing with things that'd send seasoned adults into a rabbit hole of madness. Just be good to yourself, would you? Not a single one of us can say with any certainty how we would've reacted in a similar situation."
She drew in a shaky breath as she thought about never seeing Alex again and her eyes darted to her friends. She could see the weariness in them. Keeping the secret about Future Max at his insistence had cost all of them. Michael was right. They couldn't keep secrets from each other anymore. It wasn't just killing them as a group; it was taking them apart at the seams as couples.
Isabel paused in the doorway with her laundry and her arrival pulled Liz out of her thoughts. She took the moment that she so desperately needed for her logical mind to reboot so she could deal with the issues at hand. She breathed in deeply, inhaling the warm damp air and holding it for a moment before exhaling slowly.
The tall blonde watched the three of them standing there, Maria holding onto Liz and Kyle standing close by. It was like a déjà vu moment for her. Only in her mind she was seeing the girls standing with Alex. What was it they had called themselves?
"The three musketeers," a familiar voice murmured from beside her.
Even as Alex spoke her gaze was pulled to Kyle. Without realizing it her thoughts settled on him and the way she was drawn to his comforting presence. Kyle and his steady advice, his quiet loyalty, his low soothing voice that could deliver words to calm her and their friends or turn around and crack a joke that could diffuse tense situations. She placed the neatly regimented piles of dirty laundry next to the washer and shot a quick glance at the others before turning to leave the room.
Kyle glanced up and caught her retreat, quickly taking a couple of steps that put him between her and the other two girls. She paused as he leaned back against the dryer, his hands curling around the machine and feeling its warmth soak into his palms. He hung his head to stare at the marble pattern on the tiled floor as if lost in thought while Liz spoke about Future Max. From the corner of his eye he caught Isabel beginning to move again and his left hand slipped off of the dryer to catch her hand. "Stay."
Liz nodded slowly, acknowledging Kyle's words as she pulled out of Maria's embrace. She moved closer to Isabel to include her in the conversation. She thought about the secrets she had kept since she had met Max, and the secret she had kept for Future Max that she, in turn, had asked her best friend to keep. She glanced at Kyle, thinking of the secret she had asked him to keep when she had started to change. How poetic that it would be him coming to her, confiding in her, and then asking her to keep his secret that had caused everything to blow up in their faces the night before. She thought about her dad and remembered something he used to say to her.
"Nothing weighs on us so heavily as a secret."
Maria nodded wearily. And wasn't that the truth?
Kyle glanced around at the girls as his own thoughts followed the pattern being established by them. Secrets. They were necessary to their survival but they had to break out of the pattern of using them amongst themselves. The atmosphere in the room was heavy with tension, with leftover pain from the damage of those same secrets. It was well past the point where they needed to leave that habit in the past. He quietly cleared his throat and wondered if he was brave enough to share his experience with them. Discussing it one-on-one with someone who had already experienced something similar was one thing. Opening up to the others was a different story altogether.
"Liz, maybe we should go over it from the beginning," Maria suggested.
Isabel listened to them as they tossed information from the secret visit back and forth, debating the points. She shifted to stand next to Kyle, leaning back against the dryer and unconsciously leaning against him. As far as she was concerned the visit from some future version of her brother had never happened. It didn't make sense to her way of thinking. There were too many things that just didn't fit into the way her brother operated. She was mentally ticking them off when her ears caught Liz's next statement and she nearly unleashed an indelicate snort of derision.
"Max did what?" she asked, certain Liz meant so say something else.
"He serenaded me."
"My brother? Max Evans. No." She shook her head. "Unlike most guys his age he does have that romantic bone in his body but a mariachi band? There's a thin line between romantic and foolish and I've never seen him cross that line. Not to mention I've heard him sing."
"I was there, Isabel, and I'm telling you he sang."
"In Spanish," Maria added. "You said he sang in Spanish."
"He spent a week learning the lyrics from Mr. Delgado over at the hardware store." She shrugged her shoulders. "I'll admit I didn't think he'd do anything that cheesy but… I saw him do it. I mean, we're talking the full deal with the sombrero and everything. Future Max said he was desperate and had to do something to get my attention."
Isabel shook her head and stifled a giggle at the absurdity of the mental picture. "I'm sorry but we're talking about Max. Wouldn't it make more sense for him to get you alone somewhere and use his powers to lock you in until you listened to him? I can get behind him sending flowers, calling KROZ to dedicate some disgustingly romantic song to you, or making some romantic gesture that would make any other 17-year-old guy cringe, but singing with a mariachi band? That's really too much. Max was too uptight to get up onstage for karaoke night at the Pizza Pan back home but you really think he learned a song in Spanish, hooked up with a mariachi band, and serenaded you outside your home?"
Liz made a face. "Well, when you put it like that it does make it seem even more implausible."
"Well, the roses definitely sound like Max," Kyle said.
"Yeah," Isabel said with a shake of her head, "until we get to the part where he changes the color midair. Desperate or not, would he really take that risk with the mariachi band right there to witness it?"
"I'm so exhausted." Liz rubbed her face with both hands. "You're right, it really doesn't make sense."
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Michael dropped the last of the wood on the porch next to the door at Kyle and Isabel's cabin. The temperatures were continuing to drop and when he and Max had finished working on the lean-to they had decided to stock firewood at the cabins before heading inside. At first they were going to leave Kyle to collect his own wood but after considering that he'd been trapped in a small space with three women for the past few hours they had decided to give him a break.
Max leaned over to stack the wood when several of the split logs rolled to scatter across the porch. "You think I came back from 14 years in the future?"
"To tell Liz she had to make you fall outta love with her?" Michael snorted. "No. If you did that's an awful lot of ego." He leaned back against the rough-hewn column that supported the tiny cover for the porch and his gaze raked over his friend. "Considerably more than you currently have."
"So you don't buy me coming back and asking Liz to do that," he mused aloud.
"Maxwell, you're many things and I don't like all of them. But I don't see you putting her in a position that'd cause her so much pain. It's not who you are."
"And if it was to save the world?"
Michael pushed away from the column and moved to stand right in front of Max. They were nearly nose to nose as they stared at each other. "14 years from now the world has gone all to hell, you've watched your friends and your sister die one by one, and you've been given the opportunity to go back and change the course of history, prevent all of that from happening. Tell me, Max, do you go to the one person you live and breathe for and ask her to not only do the impossible, but then burden her with keeping that secret and breaking her heart?"
Max shook his head. "No, I couldn't do that."
"No, you couldn't." He rolled his shoulders and took a step back. "When Tess first showed up she bothered you and not in a good way. You told me that first time when you kissed her it felt like something was controlling you and something was. She was. We know that now. You knew she wasn't right. She made you uncomfortable. When you're attracted to someone naturally you don't feel like that." He shrugged. "Besides that, if Tess was so damn important to the survival of Earth why wouldn't he just ask her to find a way to make peace with Tess? At that point she seemed to be kinda getting into Kyle. I didn't hear anything last night that made it sound like that whole destiny thing is what made the difference in Earth's survival. If that was the case why wouldn't he have insisted on pushing me and Isabel together too?"
Max winced when the wind blew snow down off of the roof and into his eyes. "That's a good point."
"What about that whole thing with her and Kyle in bed together? Where the hell did she get that idea?" His eyes narrowed when Max shuffled to the side and peered around the side of the cabin. "Max?"
"Michael, what's it matter?"
"Don't avoid the question. Last night it didn't sound like that was your idea, so how'd she come up with it?"
"From Maria, okay?"
"Maria?" He frowned at that. "Why the hell would Maria suggest somethin' so stupid?"
"She didn't suggest it. When Liz was talking to her about something… I don't even think it was related to this mess, but they were talking and Maria was upset. Liz said Maria was talking about finding you and Courtney together and when she saw just how devastated Maria was she thought it'd be the one thing that'd push me over the edge."
And again part of his past with Maria that hadn't been dealt with rose up to rear its ugly head. He thought about seeing her with Billy at her house and easily remembered the anger, hurt, and betrayal that had burst to life inside of him. He could understand how successful something like that would be in inflicting maximum damage. It had certainly worked on him with Billy and Maria and on her with him and Courtney. He could only imagine what it would've done to him if he'd caught her in bed with that loser, the bedcovers arranged to make it appear as if they were naked beneath them.
He would've lost it, he admitted to himself. He didn't want to think about that. "Let's get back over to your place."
Max nodded. "We need to grab the rest of the wood. I don't wanna have to make another trip out for it tonight."
They set out to collect the last load of wood so the Honeymoon cabin would be well stocked for the night. They were silent, lost in their own thoughts and paying no attention to the wind that was slowly picking up strength.
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Maria watched her best friend as she mulled over Isabel's points, her expression troubled. "There are definitely some parts of the story that seem to be questionable."
Liz rubbed her temples. "Like what?"
"Other than the mention of us joining you when you got married he never said anything about the rest of us. Me, Kyle, Alex… where were we?"
"Well, it'd make sense that I didn't get an honorable mention," Kyle said with a brief smile. "I may have been part of the club at that time but I wasn't exactly a welcome addition." He squeezed Isabel's hand when he felt her tense. "Not your fault, not my fault, just the reality of the situation at the time."
Isabel relaxed. The words were meant for her even though he was directing them at everyone in the room.
"I don't know," Liz said with a shake of her head. "He only mentioned Isabel and Michael and they were… already gone."
"I've spent a lot of time with the girlfriend and he knows how much we mean to each other," Maria spoke up. "So why wouldn't his future self mention the rest of us?"
She pushed down the dark thoughts as she considered that maybe they were already dead in that timeline.
Kyle noted the dark look on her face and had his suspicions where her thoughts were. "I've got a better question for you. Where were you, Liz? Did he ever tell you that?" He shifted and his thumb started to rub over Isabel's knuckles.
Maria chewed on her bottom lip at Kyle's question. Why hadn't she seen that one? "Well, none of us got a visit from a future you so that means either he left you behind or…"
Isabel denied that outright. "No, you couldn't have been dead. I know that for a fact. My brother wouldn't… no, he couldn't function if something had happened to you and us."
Before anyone could respond to her adamant statement they heard the front door open followed by the sound of stomping boots. Liz swallowed hard as the interruption successfully derailed her thoughts that were heading towards a possibility that she didn't really want to contemplate. What if her future self had sent Max back and she had been left there to die alone? "I don't know. Maybe I'm the one who sent him to save the world. Maybe it was me who pushed him to come back on the brink of the end of that last battle."
Maria shook her head as the sound of logs dropping to the hearth punctuated her thoughts. "No way. Even if that was true…"
"There's no way he'd leave you behind," Kyle finished. "Why would he leave you there? So you could die alone? Huh-uh, I'm with Maria on this one. If the guy's Max no way he leaves you there like that."
Movement in the doorway drew their attention and Max paused to give Kyle a nod before locking eyes with his wife. "That'd never happen, Liz."
Liz looked at him. He stood there, the man she loved, his stance rigid and proud. The alien side was featured prominently and she could see the demanding, self-determining man he had been on Antar. His demeanor spoke of authority and made it known that his word would go without challenge. His word was law and it was final.
"Liz, it's one more piece of that story that doesn't fit. It would never happen. I would never leave you to die alone. Never." The words were intense, his piercing eyes never leaving hers.
Michael stood at Max's shoulder, his own eyes on Maria. He shot a glance at his best friend. "Hell, I've known that since the day you healed her in the café."
Liz shook her head. "Maybe I had to stay behind to operate the granolith. Don't you have to have a key or something to make it work?"
Max moved forward, into her space. "Liz, look at me. Even if that were the case, I wouldn't leave you."
"Maybe I convinced you we could change the past to restore our lives."
He was beginning to get frustrated. "Not without you coming with me," he ground out.
"What if only one of us could go back? We don't know how the granolith works when used for time travel."
He clenched his hands into fists at his sides. His chin dropped, his head tipped forward as his defiant eyes locked on hers. "I said no. NO, do you hear me?"
Kyle moved forward, pausing to pull his hand free of Isabel's when he realized he had been holding hers, and he brought both hands up. "Hey, this doesn't matter. The story that Future Max told you is flawed but he came at you with all this information about his sister and best friend dying, the world ending, and putting all of that weight on your shoulders. Nothing in that conversation he had with you indicated he and Tess needed to be together. He said Tess left when you two got together because of the way HE treated her." He shrugged. "Okay, so why wouldn't he just suggest you do something to help him treat her better?"
"That's another good point," Maria said with a nod. "He didn't say anything about Michael and Isabel being together, right?" She continued when Liz shook her head. "So why would it matter if Max and Tess were a couple?"
"It didn't." Michael moved into the room, shrinking its space further. "The only reason Liz capitulated was because she was guilted into it by Future Max. He put a lot of weight on your shoulders that should've never been put there. He or Tess or whatever was controlling that situation knew exactly which buttons to push."
Max glanced at Michael. "Capitulated?"
He rolled his eyes. "To surrender under specified conditions; come to terms. To give up all resistance… Yes, Maxwell, I know what capitulate means. It's somethin' we'll never do with our enemies. And maybe I don't always agree with what Liz does but I've never seen her just roll over."
Kyle cleared his throat. "It's time to drop this. We're never gonna know the answer. The best we can do is speculate. What's happened has already happened and we can't go back and change it. We're all agreed we need to move forward so let's start right here and right now." He took a deep breath and made eye contact with each of them. "Let's focus on the present. You guys wanna know what happened to me… well, here goes."
They listened as he explained his experience, giving them the short version but including all of the pertinent facts. "Maybe it was wrong of me to ask Liz to keep it to herself and after hearing what all she's been asked to carry on her shoulders I wish I'd thought twice about it. When I saw my dad it freaked me out because I'm almost positive I was somehow there. I just wasn't ready to make a group announcement about it because I know it's gonna be guinea pig time for Kyle."
"You're right about that," Michael said, not bothering to deny it or sugarcoat it. "First things first though. We've got damage control to do with the Stevens after this mornin' and the best way for us to do that is to grab a nap before dinner. The last thing we need is for us to be up there while we're exhausted because that makes us vulnerable to making mistakes."
"I'm good with a nap," Kyle admitted, not bothering to hide a yawn.
"I'll second that." Max draped his right arm over his wife's shoulders and hugged her close to his body.
Michael's gaze made the rounds, checking with the girls and nodding when they all gave their agreement. "Alright, dinner's at six so we'll meet here about five-thirty." He looked directly at Kyle. "And after dinner we'll see what you can do."
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Once everyone had gone, leaving them alone in the cabin, Max locked the door and turned to look at his wife. The silence was loud in the aftermath of the departure of their friends and family. His gaze moved over her as she stood there, one hip leaning against the couch and her arms wrapped around her. If not for the couch he was sure she'd just topple over. They'd all had a rough 24 hours but he could see the toll it was taking on her; physically because he knew she'd had very little sleep the night before, and mentally and emotionally because some of the most painful moments in her young life had been brought to the surface and thrown in her face.
He turned the lights out one by one and moved to stand before her. "Hey," he said quietly as he reached up to brush his fingertips over her cheek.
"I'm so tired, Max," she whispered as she leaned into him.
"I know." His arms came around her and for a minute they just stood there, drawing strength from each other.
She rested her ear against his chest, listening to the reassuring beat of his heart. She hated that Tess had ever come between them, that they had ever allowed it. She didn't know where the lies ended and the truth began. Even in the worst deception there was usually some form of truth hidden beneath the layers of lies. What if they couldn't survive without their fourth? What if they had paid such significant costs, suffered such considerable losses, only to buy themselves time but without really changing anything in the end?
"Let it go tonight, Liz," Max murmured. He had felt her start to tense up and in spite of their agreement as a group to leave the past in the past he knew it could never be that easy.
"What if we can't survive without having that fourth hybrid in the group?"
"What if we can survive with three hybrids and two humans that've developed their own powers? She couldn't have foreseen this, Liz. We don't know what's gonna happen in the future and we can't control it. Maybe I did come back from the future, maybe I didn't and it was all one of her mind games, and no matter which one it was we'll never know. Obsessing over it's only gonna make your head hurt worse than it already does." He kissed her temple. "And in the end it's not gonna change a thing."
"What's done is done," she said quietly.
"Yeah." He took her hand in his and led her over to the bed, using his free hand to toss the covers back and urging her to lie down. "Do me a favor though, okay?" he whispered as he settled down next to her.
"Anything," she answered without a second thought.
"If 14 years in the future we decide to go back into the past for whatever reason… just put an end to that suggestion before it gets any further." He pulled her into his arms and she settled against him with a tired sigh.
"Promise." His fingers combed through her hair rhythmically, the feeling soothing as it chased the pain away and made her drowsy. Her eyes started to drift closed and she felt his arm tighten around her, felt his lips brush her forehead, and a feeling of safety settled over her as she went boneless in his arms.
Max struggled to stay awake, wanting to make sure she was asleep before he let himself go. He knew the moment she succumbed to sleep and he shifted slightly as his mind went back to the absurdity that he would ever leave her. "I'd never leave you to die alone," he whispered against her temple. "And one of these days you're gonna believe it with the same certainty." The words were a promise, an oath sworn in a slightly slurred voice as he followed her into an exhausted and well-deserved sleep.
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Maria lay beside Michael, her eyes wide open and staring at the ceiling as her mind bounced from one possibility to the next like an overactive hamster keeping the wheels in motion. She wondered how and even if their future had been affected because of Liz's actions with Future Max. If he had even existed in the first place, she thought. It wasn't like they would ever know for certain if he had. Whether he had or not the damage had been done.
Kyle's alien ability making an appearance was unexpected but she supposed if they had been paying more attention they would've connected the dots earlier. The way he had described his experience intrigued her. Maybe his secret power would somehow change their future for the better. It was possible, she mused. And combined with the powers the others had who knew what they could do?
"Michael?"
"Hmm?"
The sound was drawn out, a clear indicator that he was well on his way to sleep. "Do you think Kyle could've really been there?" When he didn't answer she reached over and shook him to get his attention.
"What?" he grumbled irritably. "Tryin' to sleep here, Maria."
"And I'm trying to have an intelligent conversation with you, Michael."
"Save it." He tried to roll over and she prevented it be shifting and pinning him in place with her body. He huffed out an impatient breath. "What is so important that it can't wait until after I've had a couple hours of sleep?"
"Do you think Kyle was really in his dad's kitchen? That Jim could really see him standing there?"
"I don't know. Maria, can't this wait 'til later?"
"It could, yes, but I want to discuss it now while it's fresh." She shifted up onto her elbow to look down into his exhausted features. "Don't you think it's fascinating? How do you think he got there? Maybe he can like travel through thought waves or something, you think?" Her eyes widened as another thought occurred to her. "What if he can travel through space and time… and take someone with him?" She shook him in her excitement. "Michael, do you know what that'd mean?"
He yawned. "Yeah, it means now I'm gonna have a picture of Valenti in green tights with a little green hat stuck on his head flying through the air hollering about pixie dust." He grimaced at the mental image of Peter Pan with Kyle's face. "Thanks for that. I'll probably have nightmares now."
Maria stuck her tongue out at him. "It'd serve you right for not taking this seriously."
"I do take it seriously, Maria, just I'd like to take it seriously when I can think about it seriously. Right now my brain's too tired to think."
She rolled her eyes and lay down next to him again. She resumed her perusal of the ceiling and started ticking off the positive aspects of such a power. "Hey, what if he could take more than one person at a time? Or what if he can go wherever and bring someone back with him? Can you imagine the possibilities?"
Silence was her only response and she turned to look at Michael. His features were relaxed, his mouth slack and on its way to hanging open. Not his most attractive look, she decided. She settled down beside him and her temple came to rest against his bare shoulder. They now had three hybrids and two humans with powers. Which just left her. The lone human in the group. How much of a liability was she? It was her last thought as her eyelids slid closed and sleep pulled her into its soothing embrace.
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Kyle stared at the stack of firewood next to the door, tipping his head to one side as he tried to figure out why it was there. They didn't have a fireplace in their cabin so there was no need for firewood. He supposed Max and Michael must've brought it over because it was unlikely either of them had paid much attention to how the cabin was heated. He hunched his shoulders against the wind that brought the dropping temperatures along with an additional bite to wrap around them.
He hefted the laundry that wasn't helping to protect him from the wind. "Damn, that's cold," he muttered.
Isabel brushed his hand aside and unlocked the door, pushing it in and rushing inside when he motioned for her to enter first. It was a thoughtful gesture and one she had seen him make many times since they had been on the run. Did he do that for Maria or Liz? Funny, she couldn't seem to recall whether he had or not.
She found herself wondering again why he hadn't wanted to talk to her about the changes he was going through. It made sense that he would want to confide in Liz since she had been through the process, one similar if not the same. But why couldn't he talk to her? Confide in her? For the first time there was something between them that she couldn't quite put her finger on. Was it lack of trust? Or did he not want anything to do with her because he blamed her for the changes? Maybe it was bringing on the resentment over having to run from the only home he had ever known and leaving his dad behind.
He dropped the clean laundry on the loveseat and rushed over to the wall furnace to crank the heat up before returning to the front door and ridding himself of his outerwear. He was relieved to have the secrets out, most if not all. His anxiety over his whole alien experience had notched down considerably and he was feeling a little bit better about that. He was beat and for the first time in days he felt like he could lie down and just fall asleep.
He glanced over at Isabel as she moved around the room, already free of the heavy outdoor clothing. He had felt her pulling away, distancing herself from him since he had opened up and told the others about his newly-emerging powers. He wondered if she was angry that he hadn't confided in her and then discounted that. There was no reason for her to be mad with him over that. He watched her pick things up and put them down again before finally turning to look at him.
"I think I'll see if I can sleep for a little while."
He nodded, not liking the quiet tone of her voice. "You want anything to drink first? Guess coffee's out but I could make you a hot chocolate?"
She shook her head. "Just… No, I'm just gonna take a nap." She turned and walked into the bedroom without another word.
Kyle sighed and turned, doing a visual sweep of the room. He rubbed the back of his neck as he crossed to the door to double check the lock and then made a face when he stepped into a small puddle of icy water that had melted. He wiggled his toes and shook his foot in an effort to un-stick the wet spot from the bottom of his foot.
He went back to the loveseat and picked up the two pillowcases filled with freshly washed and folded laundry. He walked over to the main bedroom and quietly crossed to the dresser to set Isabel's on one end before retreating to his own room. He tossed the Cowboy Mickey Mouse pillowcase on the bottom bunk and folded himself onto the mattress next to it so he could take his socks off. He hung them over one of the rungs on the ladder and stood to grab the mattress off of the upper bunk.
He was situating it on the floor when he paused to look around. He scratched his jaw as he stared at the floor and tried to figure out what was missing. He had been in there that morning to grab a change of clothes before going up to the main house for breakfast and he didn't remember noticing anything out of the ordinary at the time. His gaze landed on the dresser and the drawer he had pulled out the night before, using it as a makeshift altar.
After his weird experience he had jumped up and taken off, leaving everything in the middle of the floor. He hadn't even noticed it had been cleaned up when he came back the night before or even that morning. He smiled to himself as he put the mattress down, pulling it towards the doorway and wedging it in before spreading his blankets out over it. He grabbed a fresh pair of socks and pulled them on before pulling the covers up over him and snuggling in for a nap.
He smiled at the thought that Isabel had straightened up after him. There was something nice about that. It wasn't anything he expected anymore than he expected her to cook or do his laundry. He chuckled and pulled the covers up higher as he thought about the first time she had taken his laundry from him after declaring that he had no idea what he was doing. As far as he was concerned if it would fit in the washer it made a load. She'd had a fit about that. He liked the way it felt when she fussed over him but sometimes… sometimes he really wished there was more behind it. She cared about him and he tried to never take that for granted but every once in a while… The thought wandered through his mind as warmth finally seeped into his body and his eyes slid closed, easing him into the most relaxed sleep he'd had in a while.